Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization does a good job of virtualising software on Microsoft Windows desktop PCs. It is also a worthy competitor to Symantec Altiris SVS, Microsoft Application Virtualization and VMware ThinApp 4.

With the ProLiant DL185 G5, Hewlett-Packard introduces a major update to the management software that improves usability over earlier versions of HP Storage Server Management Console. The ProLiant DL185 G5 can be configured as either an NAS or iSCSI SAN device.

VMware Workstation 6.5, the latest version of VMware’s PC or laptop virtualization tool, continues the company’s trend of offering top-notch technology to developers and power users. Other vendors are following VMware’s lead in this area.

Ubuntu 8.10 still outshines the Linux desktop offerings from Red Hat and Novell, and is the best open-source alternative to Microsoft and Apple operating systems. However, both Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux and Novell’s SUSE distributions are ahead in the server space.

Burton Group analyst Anne Thomas Manes set off a storm of IT industry chatter around the viability of SOA when she pronounced that service-oriented architecture is dead and the recession killed it. However, all SOA-related technologies will continue to gain importance.

Intel will shrink its Atom processor to 32-nanometres in the second half of 2010, and the company is developing this chip and a new netbook platform under the codename “Medfield”, according to a research note that UBS analysts published earlier this month.